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ISSN 1527-3172 (Electronic)

2020, Number 4

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MEDICC Review 2020; 22 (4)

Not Infected but Physically and Mentally Affected: Older Cubans and COVID-19

Menéndez-Jiménez JE

Language: English
References: 8
Page: 84-84
PDF size: 29.12 Kb.


Text Extraction

COVID-19 has dominated the conversation this year. Following the first outbreaks in December 2019, it became clear that older adults were predisposed to greater disease severity and death. What occurred in nursing homes across Europe and the Americas was brutal—as much for the older adults themselves as for their families. Many didn’t even get to say goodbye.
When the fi rst COVID-19 cases were diagnosed in Cuba in March of this year, I feared for our older adults living in nursing homes. We have 155 nursing homes where 12,368 people live full time, plus 3481 part-time live-ins across the country. Additionally, over 10,000 older adults participate in daily activities at our national network of 295 Senior Centers. [1,2] But by May, there had been just a single outbreak in a nursing home—in Santa Clara city in central Cuba. We got lucky, I thought. After weeks and then months, I realized it wasn’t luck, but rather the result of political will, well-designed and implemented protocols and trained health professionals and others dedicated to doing a good job. This was what kept COVID-19 incidence low in our nursing homes.


REFERENCES

  1. Natio nal Health Statistics and Medical Records Division (CU). Anuario Estadístico de Salud 2019 [Internet]. Havana: Ministry of Public Health (CU); 2020 [cited 2020 Sep 30]. 206 p. Available at: https://fi les.sld.cu/bvscuba/ fi les/2020/05/Anuario-Electrónico-Español-2019-ed-2020.pdf. Spanish.

  2. Data from Ministry of Public Health (CU). Personal communication. December 2019.

  3. Ribot Reyes VC, Chang Paredes N, González Castillo AL. Efectos de la COVID- 19 en la salud mental de la población. Rev Haban Ciencias Méd [Internet]. 2020 [cited 2020 Aug 31];19(Suppl.):e3307. Available at: http://www.revhaba nera.sld.cu/index.php/rhab/article/view/3307. Spanish.

  4. Ayers JW, Leas EC, Johnson DC, Poliak A, Althouse BM, Dredze M, et al. Internet Searches for Acute Anxiety During the Early Stages of the COVID-19 Pandemic. JAMA Intern Med [Internet]. 2020 Aug 24 [cited 2020 Aug 31]. Available at: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2769543

  5. Encuesta Nacional de Envejecimiento Poblacional 2017 (ENEP 2017) [Internet]. Havana: National Statistics Bureau (CU), Center for Population and Development Studies; 2019 Sep [cited 2020 Sep 18]. 238 p. Available at: http://www .onei.gob.cu/sites/default/fi les/0.enep-2017_documento_completo.pdf. Spanish.

  6. Xue QL. The Fraility Syndrome: Defi nition and Natural History [Internet]. Clin Geriatr Med. 2011 Feb [cited 2020 Sep 22];27(1):1–15. Available at: https:// www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3028599/

  7. Enfermedades no transmisibles aportan mayor cifra de decesos en Cuba [Internet]. Havana: Prensa Latina; 2020 May 17 [cited 2020 Aug 31]. Available at: https://www.prensa-latina.cu/index.php?o=rn&id=366727&SEO=enfermed ades-no-transmisibles-aportan-mayor-cifra-de-decesos-en-cuba. Spanish.

  8. INFOMED [Internet]. Havana: Ministry of Public Health (CU); c2020. Especialidades. Psiquiatría. Recomendaciones para los profesionales de la salud mental en el contexto de la COVID-19 en Cuba; [cited 2020 Aug 31]. Available at: https://especialidades.sld.cu/psiquiatria/2020/06/06/recomendaciones-para -los-profesionales-de-la-salud-mental-en-el-contexto-de-la-covid-19-en-cu ba-2/. Spanish.




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